


taking a life

by forgettheghosts



Series: a grave for the past [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Tatooine Slave Culture, can stand alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgettheghosts/pseuds/forgettheghosts
Summary: "If you want someone dead, you have to do it yourself."
Series: a grave for the past [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825021
Kudos: 126





	taking a life

**Author's Note:**

> Anakin has concerns about Maul's planned execution.   
> Probably not adherent to any canon about Tatooine slave culture; I'm just riffing. Standalone because Maul isn't in this.

Qui Gon had always preached the virtues of mercy; he had emphasised the importance of patience, of forgiveness, of the healing power of the light. Obi Wan agreed with him in principal; there was no need to waste lives, no point in needless cruelty. 

Obi Wan had not been bothered by the thought of the Sith’s death. Any moral qualms he had previously felt about the death penalty has fallen by the wayside as he held Qui Gon’s still cooling body in his arms. His intention had been to gut the Sith, cut him down where he stood and stop him from assisting the dark side ever again. 

Vokara Che had levelled a coldly disapproving look in his direction when he said as much. She was a healer, after all- Obi Wan didn’t expect her to understand the ways of battle. 

So, he had been fully prepared to campaign for execution. He had not considered any alternative; the closest thing he had considered to a concern would have been the amount of bacta that had been used to keep the Zabrak alive. Qui Gon would have disapproved- but Qui Gon was dead.

It was during a meditation lesson with Anakin that he was forced to reconsider. It had been a month since Theed, and Anakin seemed to be settling into the temple. He had managed to bond with a few of his creche mates, others who had come to the temple later in their lives. His skills were truly impressive, if in need of honing. The goal of meditation was to teach him better focus. It was not going entirely according to plan but, Obi Wan reasoned, the boy was young. There was time. 

After his third time that day smacking Anakin’s hands away from where they were picking at the meditation cushion, the boy spoke. 

“How’re you gonna kill that Sith?”

Obi Wan blinked. “Pardon?”

“You said he’d be executed. He killed your master, so you’ve got a  _ killmoolee,  _ right?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

Anakin rolled his eyes in a manner that Obi Wan took to mean ‘you’re a stupid core worlder’. 

“Like- you have to be the one to kill him, if he killed your Master. Otherwise you look like a weak  _ schutta. _ ”

Obi Wan coughed. “I’m a  _ what-” _

The boy blushed, and waved his hands. “I mean, not that you  _ are,  _ that’s just how it would  _ look. _ ”

Obi Wan regarded the boy carefully. The child began to look nervous. Obi Wan sighed and ran a hand through his hair, feeling the newly shorn place where his Padawan braid had been only a month earlier.    
“Anakin, firstly, you can’t call people that at the temple. It’s rude. Second, I believe this is one of those… cultural differences we talked about. Like with the water.” 

Anakin frowned, but nodded. 

The boy had thought, when he first came to the temple, that he needed to repay every drink of water he was given. He had spent four days bringing items for the cafeteria staff at every meal, bracelets of braided cord or food he had secreted away in his room. Eventually one of the kitchen staff had realized what has going on and brought it to Obi Wan’s attention- Anakin had assumed that, like on Tatooine, every offering of water had to be repaid or recognized with a item in return. Obi Wan had sat him down and explained that he could have as much water as he wanted, whenever he wanted. It had taken a while- he had needed to pull up maps of the groundwater and reservoirs of Coruscant to get the boy to believe him. 

If nothing else it had endeared him to the cooks and servers, and Anakin never needed to sneak around to get biscuits. They were always on offer. 

Back in the present, Anakin awaited an explanation. 

“Ordinary people don’t perform executions in the Republic. They’re done by automated droids.” Anakin frowned in front of him. “Is something wrong?”

“No, Master.” Anakin intoned. 

“I’ve told you before, you can tell me what you’re really thinking, Anakin.”

The boy hesitated before replying. “Just… my mom always said that if you want someone dead, you have to do it yourself. She said everything alive deserves to die with honour. Back home, it was better to be killed in the square than in the Hutt’s cells. Because at least the enforcers look you in the eye before they kill you. Once I said I wished Watto was dead, and she said if I couldn’t fire the blaster myself I shouldn’t wish death on anyone.”

Obi Wan swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. The severity with which Anakin spoke sometimes startled him; This child had seen more death than anyone Obi Wan had known. 

“So if I advocate for the Sith’s death, I should be the one to do it.”

Anakin shrugged. The conversation clearly upset him. 

“That’s just what my mom said.”

“I see.” They sat in silence for a few minutes. “Why don’t you return to the creche? I think we’ve done enough for today.”

Anakin nodded and stood. Before he left, Obi Wan added, “Anakin,” the boy turned. “Thank you for your honesty.”

“You’re welcome, Master Obi Wan.”

Obi Wan stood and walked to the window overlooking Coruscant. Anakin’s words rang in his head-

_ If you want someone dead, you have to do it yourself. _

He had failed to kill Maul the first time. Someone like Qui Gon would have said that was the will of the Force manifesting itself. Obi Wan wasn’t certain he saw the Force as being physically present in the way Qui Gon believed it was. But he also knew that his master would not have called for the Sith’s death, even if the being had stolen his own life. 

“You thought the boy was sent, Master.” Obi Wan spoke into the empty room. “Was I meant to meet them both?”

Qui Gon was not there to answer. But Obi Wan knew what he would have said. He turned from the window, and returned to his room to begin composing a statement to the council. 

If he wished responsibility for the Sith’s life, he would have to take one that responsibility, no matter the cost. 

**Author's Note:**

> Mushed together some Huttese to mean roughly "Blood Feud".   
> Anakin called Obi Wan a bitch, basically.   
> I feel like he would have had a rough time going from the harshness of Tatooine to the idealism of the temple.


End file.
